Go (围棋, 碁, 바둑) is one of my obsessions. I’ve been playing for a year, mostly as ealdent on Online Go Server (OGS) and am currently about 12.5 kyu, though I shift around a bit. At the moment, I’m in a bit of downswing, mostly because stress and not concentrating is leading me to make foolish moves, plus I don’t have a lot of time to devote to analyzing what I’m doing wrong. One of the coolest things about Go to me is the fact that it is an accepted fact in the Go world that your health and mental state contribute to your ability. It makes sense: when you sit down to a game that requires hours of concentration, if your health isn’t good, you will be distracted.

Two snapback symmetries in a game of Go.

So in one of my games against a lower-strength player (about 7 kyu lower), I just noticed the emergence of a really cool symmetry. I have a double snapback (I am the white stones) set up right now. If he plays at E12, I can kill the three stones at F11, E11 and E12 by playing again at F12. If he kills my stone at G13 by playing at H13, I can kill those three stones. Two identical snapbacks back to back. Cool huh? Plus, if he plays at F14, he will put my stones at E16 and F16 in the exact same snapback position by playing again at E15. Go is a beautiful game.

I recorded what this would look like via my cell phone, so sorry for the crappy video. I need to look into some sort of desktop recording software.